The sheriff’s office conducted the initial probe before turning the
investigation over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, a
division of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, which handled the
prosecution. The felony charges carried a maximum possible one-year
prison sentence on each count. Brian Deckert, an associate assistant
attorney general, had recommended a one-year prison sentence for
Hammonds but he did not oppose her request for probation.

At Monday’s sentencing hearing, Deckert said Hammonds was paid an hourly rate and not per voter registration, so it was not “a situation where she had a quota system…I think it just may have come down to human laziness,” he said of Hammonds’ actions. Public defender Jennifer Gorby attributed her client’s actions to “a lack of judgment on her part” and that she engaged in this behavior to keep her job.

While there may have not been a quota system in place, Hammonds told
Judge C. Ashley Pike she felt pressure to sign up as many registered
voters as possible after being told the canvassers’ failure to meet
certain goals could result in the OOC’s local funding being pulled. “I just felt I needed to keep the numbers up,” she said.

Pike questioned Hammonds further, asking if her supervisors were aware of her illegal activities? “Not that I’m aware of,” she said. While Deckert may have had no objection to Hammonds being granted
probation, the judge did, with Pike saying voter registration fraud is a
serious crime that deserves some incarceration.